Increased safety requirements are in force for maintenance and repair work on high towers, such as, for example, high-voltage power line towers, towers for wind installations and the like, and therefore complicated and expensive lift or ladder systems have to be arranged in or on said towers. However, it is hazardous to climb up and down ladders, and an investigation by Darmstadt Technical College, for example, revealed that approx. 70% of the accidents have taken place in conjunction with the climbing of ladders which are fixedly fitted, such as, for example, on the high-voltage towers mentioned.
The prior art describes a series of what are referred to as climbing aids which are proposed in order to climb high objects. For example, DE 102 01 965 describes a device for covering distances directed vertically upward. This describes a climbing aid which is actuable by means of muscular power and is movable up and down in the manner of a caterpillar on a ladder attached in a fixed position. Further climbing aids are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,858, U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,070 and in WO2007/051 341.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,072 describes a rescue device, such as a rescue ladder or a rescue lift which can be moved up and down on a sliding surface designed in the manner of a rack on a house façade. In this case, the person who is to be rescued is held on the slider or lift by means of a strap system, wherein, furthermore, automatically responding braking systems are provided in order to permit safe rescue of a person. For the 500 000 high-voltage towers erected in Germany alone, a system of this type is not suitable, since it is too complicated, too expensive and also too awkward in operation.
Finally, WO 2005/016 461 describes an arrangement for climbing up and/or down, for example, high-voltage towers, wherein the climbing primarily takes place by means of two separate climbing consoles which can be used both manually and also by means of a motor drive. According to one variant embodiment, it is even proposed to operate the two climbing consoles coupled together as a lift.
All of the known systems have the disadvantage that, because of the exacting safety requirements, climbing, for example, of the high-voltage towers mentioned is very time-consuming and laborious, and the systems are too expensive in particular in respect of the anticipated costs, especially during operation.
A further disadvantage resides in the fact that the climbing devices or lifts are heavy in terms of weight, and therefore use on different towers necessitates laborious transportation from one tower to the next, for example with a transport vehicle.